HAROLD Alarcon may have delivered the performance of his life to open the UAAP Season 88 men’s basketball finals, but not even a 34-point explosion could drag the University of the Philippines to a Game 1 victory.
READ: La Salle takes fight out of UP to move a win away from regaining crown
The graduating Fighting Maroon erupted for a career-high on 12-of-22 shooting, almost single-handedly drawing first blood for State U.
But a single heroic effort could not stop La Salle from escaping with a 74–70 win, and UP head coach Goldwin Monteverde was the first to acknowledge that the burden cannot fall on one man alone.
“‘Yung 34 points ni Harold, of course, kailangan ng team ‘yun. But then, hindi naman pwedeng si Harold lang,” the soft-spoken told reporters after the loss.
“It's just that as a team, kailangan namin mag-contribute din, hindi lang siya. I guess as a team, being able to adjust lang sa mga ginagawa ng La Salle sa amin, I think that will be part of the plan for Game 2.”
Alarcon’s personal tally nearly matched the rest of the UP roster, which could only combine for 36 points.
And with that, the defending champions find themselves in unfamiliar territory: dropping the opening game of a finals duel for the first time.
UP Fight!
Still, if there’s anything this UP core knows as well as winning, it’s how to respond to adversity.
State U already began the season 0–2 before rallying to force a return trip to the finals — a reminder Monteverde intentionally resurfaced after the loss.
“This is not the first time na natalo kami, so we’re just reminding ourselves na we started the season na 0–2 nga. Kaya I believe ‘yung team namin knows how to bounce back from mga ganitong situation,” he said.
For UP, the Green Archers merely took the opener. But as far as the series is concerned, this championship remains far from settled.
“In every finals game, we should just want it more,” Monteverde said. “We just lost a battle, but the war is not over yet. We still have two games left. We're still positive about it.”
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